The frustrating thing about the whole "new atheist turned out to be fascists" trope is how obviously wrong it is. Yes, Dawkins and Harris turned out to be socially right-wing in most non-religious matters. Yes, their hatred of Islam sometimes made them hypocrites and "strange bedfellows" with Christians. Yes, they had plenty of followers.
But the four horsemen were not the the whole movement. Online, people like Hemant "Friendly Atheist" Mehta, Rebecca "Skepchick" Watson and PZ "Pharyngula" Myers racked up more hits than Harris, Dawkins and Hitchens racked up book sales. And they're still out there fighting the good fight for atheism and equality, along with others like Greta Christina, Adam Lee, Jey McCreight, and Cassidy McGillicuddy.
They expelled people like Thunderf00t, turned their back on the SlymePit and tried to build sites (Only Sky, Freethought) that would survive the decline of the blogosphere (with limited success.) I think the atheist/skeptic movement now belongs to people on youtube, like Gutsick Gibbon and Genetically Modified Atheist, but a good number of the old guard is still around and has not gone reactionary.
Yep, I'm still here and posting twice weekly at Rolltodisbelieve.com! Thanks for the shout-out! - Cas

















